FOOTNOTES:
[1] Published, all of them, by T. and W. Boone, London, to whom it is only just to acknowledge their kindness in permitting the use that has been made of these two publications in the first portion of the present Work.
[2] See Dr. Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, especially at p. 5, where it appears that the judge was not quite impartial in one of his statements. Dr. Ullathorne himself has, in his 98 pages, contrived to crowd in at least twice as many misrepresentations as Burton’s 321 pages contain. But that is no excuse. The Romish Church may need, or seem to need, such support. The cause defended by Judge Burton needs it not.
[3] It is supposed that the word “Sin,” applied to the wilderness mentioned in Exodus xvi. 1, and also to the mountain of “Sinai,” has the same meaning, so that the appellation of “Bush” is no new term.
[4] Collins’ “Account of the Colony of New South Wales,” p. 11.
[5] This river must not be confounded with another of the same name in South Australia.
[6] See Oxley’s Journal, p. 299.
[7] See Mitchell’s Three Expeditions in Australia, vol. i. p. 38.
[8] An expedient used by the natives in Torres Strait, on the northern coast of Australia, for getting water, may here be noticed, both for its simplicity and cleverness. “Long slips of bark are tied round the smooth stems of a tree called the pandanus, and the loose ends are led into the shells of a huge sort of cockle, which are placed beneath. By these slips the rain which runs down the branches and stem of the tree is conducted into the shells, each of which will contain two or three pints; thus, forty or fifty placed under different trees will supply a good number of men.”—Flinders’ Voyage to Terra Australis, vol. ii. p. 114.
A different plan for improving the water that is hot and muddy, is thus detailed by Major Mitchell. To obtain a cool and clean draught the blacks scratched a hole in the soft sand beside the pool, thus making a filter, in which the water rose cooled, but muddy. Some tufts of long grass were then thrown in, through which they sucked the cooler water, purified from the sand or gravel. I was glad to follow their example, and found the sweet fragrance of the grass an agreeable addition to the luxury of drinking.
[9] “The most singular quality of this vapour or mirage, as it is termed, is its power of reflection; objects are seen as from the surface of a lake, and their figure is sometimes changed into the most fantastic shapes.”—Crichton’s Arabia, vol. i. p. 41.
[10] See two other curious accounts of the effects of mirage and refraction in Sturt’s Expeditions in Australia, vol. ii. pp. 56 and 171.
[11] The artless description of this sad discovery, given by one of the natives who accompanied the party, may be not unworthy of the reader’s notice. “Away we go, away, away, along the shore away, away, away, a long distance we go. I see Mr. Smith’s footsteps ascending a sand-hill, onwards I go regarding his footsteps. I see Mr. Smith dead. We commence digging the earth. Two sleeps had he been dead; greatly did I weep, and much I grieved. In his blanket folding him, we scraped away the earth. We scrape earth into the grave, we scrape the earth into the grave, a little wood we place in it. Much earth we heap upon it—much earth we throw up. No dogs can dig there, so much earth we throw up. The sun had just inclined to the westward as we laid him in the ground.“—Grey’s Travels in Western Australia, vol. ii. p. 350.
[12] See a like melancholy history of the death of Mr. Cunningham, in Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. i. p. 180, et seq. How thrilling must have been the recollections of his fellow-travellers in the wilderness at the simple incident thus related: “In the bed of the river, where I went this evening to enjoy the sight of the famished cattle drinking, I came accidentally on an old footstep of Mr. Cunningham in the clay, now baked hard by the sun. Four months had elapsed, and up to this time the clay bore the last records of our late fellow-traveller.”
[13] “A cluster of these trees would be an excellent beacon to warn mariners of their danger when near a coral reef, and at all events their fruit would afford some wholesome nourishment to the ship-wrecked seamen. The navigator who should distribute 10,000 cocoa-nuts amongst the numerous sand banks of the great ocean and Indian Sea, would be entitled to the gratitude of all maritime nations, and of every friend of humanity.”—Flinders’ Voyage to Terra Australis, vol. ii. p. 332.
[14] Although the basin of this river extends so far towards the east, on its westerly bank, that is, towards the interior, a desert country stretches itself to an unknown distance, from which it does not appear to receive any increase of its waters at all deserving of notice. From two hills, seventy miles apart, extensive views were gained of this western desert, in which no smoke was seen, indicating the presence of natives, nor even any appearance of trees; the whole country being covered with a thick bush or scrub. For the four winter months spent by Mitchell near the Darling, neither rain nor yet dew fell, and the winds from the west and north-west, hot and parching, seemed to blow over a region in which no humidity remained.
[15] So in Major Mitchell’s work, vol. i. p. 298; but the same author is quoted (more correctly it would seem from the map), by Montgomery Martin, as stating that “The Darling does not, in a course of three hundred miles, receive a single river.”—See Martin’s New South Wales, p. 82.
[16] By dry season, or wet season, in Australia, we are not to understand, as in England, a dry or wet summer, but a series of dry or wet years. At the very bottom of some of the dried-up lakes were found sapling trees of ten years’ growth, which had evidently been killed by the return of the waters to their long-forsaken bed.
[17] “I have myself no doubt that a large navigable river will yet be discovered, communicating with the interior of Australia.”—M. Martin’s New South Wales, p. 99.
[18] This remarkable animal, called also the Ornithorynchus, is peculiar to Australia, it has the body of a beast combined with the mouth and feet of a duck, is to be seen frequently on the banks of the Glenelg, and that unusually near the coast.
[19] Water is proverbially “unstable,” but what occurred to Major Mitchell’s party on the Yarrayne, may serve for a specimen of the peculiar uncertainty of the waters of Australia. In the evening a bridge across that stream had been completed, and everything was prepared for crossing it, but in the morning of the following day no bridge was to be seen, the river having risen so much during the night, although no rain had fallen, that the bridge was four feet under water, and at noon the water had risen fourteen feet,—a change that could only be accounted for by the supposed melting of the snow near the sources of the stream.
[20] See Professor Buckland’s Bridgewater Treatise, vol. i. Introduction, pp. 1, 2.
[21] See Mitchell’s Three Expeditions in Australia, vol. ii. p. 13.
[22] See Oxley’s Journal, pp. 103, 244.
[23] Another lake, called Walljeers, at no very great distance from this, was found, with its whole expanse of about four miles in circumference, entirely covered with a sweet and fragrant plant, somewhat like clover, and eaten by the natives. Exactly resembling new-made hay in the perfume which it gives out even when in the freshest state of verdure, it was indeed “sweet to sense and lovely to the eye” in the heart of a desert country.
[24] See Sturt’s Expeditions in Australia, vol. i. Dedication, p. 4.
[25] Sturt’s Expeditions in Australia, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110.
[26] The dimensions given in Captain Sturt’s map. The South-Australian Almanac states it to be sixty miles long, and varying in width from ten to forty miles.
[27] For the account of this voyage, see Sturt’s Expeditions in Australia, vol. ii. pp. 72-221.
[28] These particulars are taken from the South-Australian Almanac for 1841, pp. 68-73.
[29] See Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. p. 3.
[30] See Account of the Effects of a Storm at Mount Macedon, (Mitchell’s “Three Expeditions,” vol. ii. p. 283.)
[31] On one occasion the progress of the fire was against the wind. See this stated and explained by Major Mitchell, “Three Expeditions,” vol. i. p. 19.
[32] See Oxley’s Journals, pp. 184-7.
[33] Not quite so; they soon fell in with a few of the scattered wanderers of the bush.
[34] See the interesting account of Major Mitchell’s ascent to Mount William, the highest point of these hills.—Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. ii. pp. 171-181.
[35] Psalm cxxii. 8,9.
[36] One crime, in which the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands of New Zealand notoriously indulge, has been charged also upon the people of New Holland; but, since no mention of their cannibalism is made by those British travellers who have seen most of the habits of the natives, it is hoped that the charge is an unfounded one. See, however, M. Martin’s New South Wales, pp. 151-2, and the instance of Gome Boak, in Collins’ History of New South Wales, p. 285; and Sturt’s Expeditions in Australia, vol. ii. p. 222.
[37] Nay, our fellow-countrymen in the Australian colonies, can, by no means, endure a strict trial, even by their own rule of right. Take, for instance, the following very common case:—The kangaroo disappears from cattle-runs, and is also killed by stockmen, merely for the sake of the skin; but no mercy is shown to the natives who may help themselves to a bullock or a sheep. They do not, it is true, breed and feed the kangaroos as our people rear and fatten cattle, but, at least, the wild animals are bred and fed upon their land, and consequently belong to them.
[38] Speaking of a tribe which he found upon the banks of the Darling, Mitchell says, “The men retained all their front teeth, and had no scarifications on their bodies, two most unfashionable peculiarities among the aborigines.” (Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. i. p. 261.) The same intelligent traveller accounts for the custom of knocking out the teeth, by supposing it a typical sacrifice, probably derived from early sacrificial rites. The cutting off the last joint of the little finger of females, (he adds,) seems a custom of the same kind. It is a curious observation, that the more ferocious among the natives on the Darling were those tribes that had not lost their front teeth.—Vol. ii. p. 345, and vol. i. p. 304.
[39] This was not the fact, however, for Lieut. Collins found them in a different place, when he went to the spot early in the next morning.
[40] A less serious but even more effectual method of dispersing the natives, when they became troublesome, and would not quit the settlers’ camp at night, is mentioned by Mitchell. At a given signal, one of the Englishmen suddenly sallied forth wearing a gilt mask, and holding in his hand a blue light with which he fired a rocket. Two men concealed bellowed hideously through speaking-trumpets, while all the others shouted and discharged their fire-arms into the air. The man in the mask marched solemnly towards the astonished natives, who were seen through the gloom but for an instant, as they made their escape and disappeared for ever.—Mitchell’s Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 290.
[41] On a similar occasion, near the Darling, where the inhabitants are remarkable for their thievish habits, when a crow was shot, in order to scare them by its sudden death, the only result was, that, before the bird had reached the ground, one of them rushed forward at the top of his speed to seize it!—See Mitchell’s Expeditions, vol. i. p. 265.
[42] See Nehemiah viii. 14, 15.
[43] The men frequently indulge a great degree of indolence at the expense of the women, who are compelled to sit in their canoe, exposed to the fervour of a mid-day sun, hour after hour, chanting their little song, and inviting the fish beneath them to take their bait; for without a sufficient quantity to make a meal for their tyrants, who are lying asleep at their ease, they would meet but a rude reception on their landing.—Collins’ Account of Colony of New South Wales, p. 387.
[44] Playing at “stealing a wife” is a common game with the Australian children.
[45] These facts may account for the statement mentioned by Collins, of a native throwing himself in the way of a man who was about to shoot a crow, whence it was supposed that the bird was an object of worship, which notion is, however, contradicted by the common practice of eating crows, of which birds the natives are very fond.—See Collins’ Account of the Colony of New South Wales, p. 355.
Two young natives, to whom Mr. Oxley had given a tomahawk, discovered the broad arrow, with which it was marked on both sides, and which exactly resembles the print made by the foot of an emu. Probably the youths thought it a kobong, for they frequently pointed to it and to the emu skins which the party had with them.—See Oxley’s Journal, p. 172.
[46] The command in Deut. xxv. only extended to the case of eldest sons dying without children.
[47] The wild dog is also an object of chase, and its puppies are considered great dainties; but they are sometimes saved, in order to bring them up in a tame state, in which case they are taken by one of the elder females of the family, and actually reared up by her in all respects like one of her own children!
[48] It is a saying among the natives, “Where white man sit down, kangaroo go away.”
[49] Martin’s New South Wales, p. 131.
[51] “Among the few specimens of art manufactured by the primitive inhabitants of these wilds, none come so near our own as the net, which, even in its quality, as well as in the mode of knotting, can scarcely be distinguished from those made in Europe.”—Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 153.
[52] “Their only cutting implements are made of stone, sometimes of jasper, fastened between a cleft stick with a hard gum.”—Martin’s New South Wales, p. 147. “The use of the ‘mogo,’ or stone-hatchet, distinguishes the barbarous from the ‘civil’ black fellows, who all use iron tomahawks.”—Mitchell’s Three Expeditions in Eastern Australia, vol. i. p. 4.
[53] The kiley, or boomerang, is a thin curved missile, which can be thrown by a skilful hand so as to rise upon the air, and its crooked course may be, nevertheless, under control. It is about two feet four inches in length, and nine and a half ounces in weight. One side, the uppermost in throwing, is slightly convex, the lower side is flat. It is amazing to witness the feats a native will perform with this weapon, sometimes hurling it to astonishing heights and distances, from which, however, it returns to fall beside him; and sometimes allowing it to fall upon the earth, but so as to rebound, and leap, perhaps, over a tree, or strike some object behind.
[54] For instance, the natives on the river Bogan used the new tomahawks, given them by Major Mitchell, in getting wild honey—a food very commonly eaten in Australia—from the hollow branches of the trees. It seemed as though, in the proper season, they could find it almost everywhere. “To such inexpert clowns as they probably thought us,” continues the Major, “the honey and the bees were inaccessible, and indeed, invisible, save only when the natives cut the former out, and brought it to us in little sheets of bark; thus displaying a degree of ingenuity and skill in supplying wants, which we, with all our science, could not hope to attain.” They caught a bee, and stuck to it, with gum or resin, some light down of a swan or owl: thus laden, the bee would make for its nest in some lofty tree, and betray its store of sweets.—Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. i. p. 173.
[55] See Evidence of J. Barnes, Esq., in minutes of evidence taken before the Select Committee on Transportation, Quest. 417-422, pp. 48, 49.
[56] This remark, which is here applied to the people on the south coast of New Holland, does not hold good of all the natives of that vast island. On the authority of the same able navigator, Flinders, we learn that, in the northern part of the country, about Torres Strait, some of the tribes are very skilful in managing their long canoes. See an interesting account of the natives of the Murray Islands, in Flinders’ Voyage, vol. ii. pp. 108-110.
[57] See p. 99.
[58] See Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. i. p. 39.
[59] Flinders’ Voyage, vol. i. Introd. pp. 99, 100.
[60] “The natives do not allow that there is such a thing as a death from natural causes; they believe that were it not for murderers, or the malignity of sorcerers, they might live for ever.”—Grey’s Travels in Western Australia, vol. ii. p. 238.
[61] See Deut. xiv. 1, where the very spot is mentioned,—“between the eyes,”—which is always torn and scratched by the Australian female mourners.
[62] This disease made dreadful ravages among the natives about the same time as the colony in New South Wales was settled. “The recollection of this scourge will long survive in the traditionary songs of these simple people. The consternation which it excited is yet as fresh in their minds, as if it had been an occurrence of but yesterday, although the generation that witnessed its horrors has almost passed away. The moment one of them was seized with it, was the signal for abandoning him to his fate. Brothers deserted their brothers, husbands their wives, wives their husbands, children their parents, and parents their children; and in some of the caves of the coast, heaps of decayed bones still indicate the spots where these ignorant and helpless children of nature were left to expire, not so much, probably, from the virulence of the disease itself, as from the want of sustenance.”—Wentworth’s Australia, vol. i. p. 311. Third edition. See also Collins’ New South Wales, p. 383.
[63] See, however, a more pleasing picture of a native burying-place, in Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. i. p. 321.
[64] Martin’s New South Wales, p. 143.
[65] See p. 114.
[66] “In many places a log of wood, or a wide slip of bark, tied at either end, and stuffed with clay, is the only mode invented for crossing a river or arm of the sea, while in other parts a large tree, roughly hollowed by fire, forms the canoe.”—M. Martin’s New South Wales, p. 147.
[67] Flinders’ Voyage, vol. ii. p. 138.
[68] See a most remarkable instance of this in M. Martin’s New South Wales, pp. 156-158.
[69] Latterly, however, experience suggested to him what seems to have been a successful mode of concealment. See Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 271.
[70] It is even said, that persons bearing the same name with the deceased take other names, in order to avoid the necessity of pronouncing it at all. See Collins’ Acc. of Col. of N. S. Wales, p. 392.
[71] S. P. G. Report, 1842, p. 59.
[72] The half-caste children are generally put to death by the black husband, under the idea, it is said, that if permitted to grow up, they would be wiser than the people among whom they would live. These helpless innocents are destroyed, as though they were no better than a cat or dog: one farm servant of Mr. Mudie was in a great rage at the birth of a small infant of this description, and without any ceremony, only exclaiming, “Narang fellow,” which means, “Small fellow,” he took it up at once, and dashed it against the wall, as you would any animal. See Evidence before Transport. Com. 1837, p. 43.
[73] Against one of these missions Dr. Lang gives a sneer, and it may be a deserved one, though certainly expressed in unbecoming language; but the attentive reader of Dr. Lang’s amusing work on New South Wales will soon learn not to place too much stress upon all he says. See Lang’s New South Wales, vol. ii. chap. 7, p. 313.
[74] See Bishop of Australia’s Letter in S. P. G. Report for 1842, p. 53.
[75] Like most of his countrymen, Bennillong had two wives, but one of them, Barangaroo, had died, as it appears, before his departure for England. See [page 154].
[76] On a similar occasion, Cole-be placed the living child in the grave with its mother, and having laid the child down, he threw upon it a large stone, after which the grave was instantly filled up by the other natives. Upon remonstrating with Cole-be, he, so far from thinking it inhuman, justified this extraordinary act by saying, that, as no woman could be found to nurse the child, it must have died a worse death than that to which he put it.—Collins’ Account of the Colony of New South Wales, p. 393.
[77] The custom of holding out green boughs, which is usually a sign of friendship among the Australians and other savage tribes, formed part of the ceremony of suppliants among the ancient Greeks. See Potter’s Antiquities of Greece, b. ii. c. 5.
[78] The difference in disposition between tribes not very remote from each other was often striking. Only three days’ journey behind, the travellers had left natives as kind and civil as any whom they had seen, and hitherto all the people on the Darling had met them with the branch of peace.
[79] Such are the words of Lieutenant Collins, from whose account of New South Wales the narrative is taken. When will Christians learn, in their intercourse with heathens and savages, to abstain from such falsehood and deceitful dealing?
[80] This generally appears to be rather a suspicious act;—to dance a corrobory is “a proposal these savage tribes often make, and which the traveller who knows them well will think it better to discourage.”—Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 269.
[81] Grey’s Western Australia, vol. ii. p. 370.
[82] It happened that the two French ships of discovery under the unfortunate La Perouse came into the harbour of Botany Bay just as the English were finally quitting it. The French stayed there nearly two months, and after they left that harbour they were never again seen by any Europeans, both vessels having been lost.
[83] See Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. p. 23.
[84] See Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 171. See, too, another instance at p. 385.
[85] This conduct was so common, that, when provisions became scarce, the supply was issued twice in the week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
[86] The blame of these lax and unworthy notions must not fall on the laity alone; many of the clergy in those days deserve to have a full share of it; but while we see and lament the faults of that generation, we must not forget to look after those of our own, and to correct them.
[87] See Judge Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 1.
[88] Certainly some of the means employed for the moral improvement of the convicts were very strange ones. For example, we are told, on one occasion, that some of them were “ordered to work every Sunday on the highway as a punishment!” See Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 184. See likewise, p. 246.
[89] In 1792, a chaplain came out with the New South Wales Corps; and in 1794, Mr. Marsden, a second chaplain, arrived in the colony. If any person is desirous of seeing how easily the faults and failings of individuals may be turned into arguments against a church, he has only to refer to Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, chap i. “The Dark Age.”
[90] See the authorities quoted by Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 6. According to this author, the chaplain’s name was Johnston, not Johnson, as Collins spells it.
[91] See 2 Kings v. and 1 Kings xix. 18. See likewise, in proof of the good conduct of some convicts, Collins’ Account of New South Wales, p. 42.
[92] See the Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 2, p. 107.
[93] The signal-colours were stolen within a year afterwards by some of the natives, who divided them among the canoes, and used them as coverings.
[94] According to Captain Tench, who is quoted by the Roman Catholic, Dr. Ullathorne, “Divine service was performed at Sydney only one Sunday in the month,” and “the Rev. Mr. Johnson was the best farmer in the country.” What truth there may be in these insinuations, or in the charge against Judge Burton of enlarging upon a Romish priest’s being a convict, while he disguises the same truth when it applied to an English clergyman, must be left to others better acquainted with the facts to determine. See Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, p. 5.
[95] Things are now, happily, better ordered. “There are frequent instances of vessels arriving from England without having had a single death during the voyage” to Sydney.—Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. p. 58.
[96] See [“Bennillong,”] in chap. vi. p. 151.
[97] Another instance of like folly is mentioned in Collins’ Account of New South Wales, p. 129.
[98] Religion, of course, concerns all equally, only the guilty and the wretched seem to be the last persons who can afford to reject its consolations, even in this world. However, the conduct of those in authority was pretty much on a par with that of the convicts, and it was only when one of the earlier governors was told of but five or six persons attending divine service, that “he determined to go to church himself, and stated that he expected his example would be followed by the people.” See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 7.
[99] It would appear almost as though some men will not see that churches are not built for clergymen to preach in, and live (or starve) upon the pew-rents, but for laymen to hear God’s word and join in His solemn worship.
[100] See Collins’ Account of New South Wales, pp. 223-4.
[101] A similar scheme was to have been practised by some Irish convict women, who were to have taken their part in a proposed mutiny on board the Marquis Cornwallis during the passage out, by mixing pulverized glass with the flour of which the seamen made their puddings! See Collins, p. 324.
[102] Whatever may be the improvement of the middling and upper classes, nationally speaking the passion for strong liquor continues to bear sway in the British islands to a deplorable extent. Lord Ashley has stated in the House of Commons during the present session, 1843, that there is good authority for estimating our annual consumption of spirituous liquors at twenty-five millions sterling! Compare the gross amount of the revenues of the English Church, about four millions, and those of the poor Kirk of Scotland, the plundered Church of Ireland, and the “voluntary” efforts of the hundred and one sects of Dissenters, together with those of the Romish Church:—and what is the result? Probably, nearly three times as much is spent in these islands upon spirituous liquors as the whole cost of religious instruction of every kind amounts to!
[103] Dr. Lang’s opinion here is, however, confirmed by Judge Burton; see p. 7 of his work on Education and Religion in New South Wales.
[104] Account of Colony of New South Wales, p. 235.
[105] 1 Tim. vi. 10.
[106] Collins’ Account of New South Wales, pp. 243, 244.
[107] The crops of the first settlers were paid for by the Government in spirits, but Captain Hunter endeavoured to put an end to this practice, for it was not possible that a farmer who should be idle enough to throw away the labour of twelve months, for the purchase of a few gallons of injurious liquors, could expect to thrive, or enjoy those comforts which sobriety and industry can alone procure.
[108] It may not be out of place to quote in support of this opinion the sensible words of an Australian writer. “I confess I like to hear of high wages, and of good prices of provisions—of the productions of the country,—for where they prevail for any length of time, the country must be prosperous. Paradoxical as it may seem, it is no less true, that the poorest country is always that where provisions are sold at the cheapest rate. To the same purpose is the testimony of Sir G. Gipps, the present Governor of New South Wales, appointed by Lord Melbourne in 1837, who says:—‘The total amount of the grain’ (imported) ‘even at these prices, amounted to the fearful sum of 246,000l.; but that, it must be remembered, was only the prime cost in the countries where the wheat was grown, and to that must be added the charges for freight, insurance, and commission, probably as much more, so that in two years the colony would expend upwards of half a million of money for foreign bread. The distress of the colony was owing to these immense importations.”—See Speech of Governor Gipps in Council. Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. iii. p. 163. See also Ross’s Van Diemen’s Land Almanac and Annual, 1836, p. 177.
[109] About the time of Captain Hunter’s taking the reins of government a cow was sold for 80l., a horse cost 90l., and a Cape sheep 7l. 10s. Other prices were in proportion; fresh meat was very scarce, and the various attempts to import live stock had been far from successful. Still a beginning had been made, and it is astonishing how rapidly rural wealth began to multiply in New South Wales, after the difficulties of the first eight or ten years had been overcome.
[110] Promissory notes were given, payable in rum instead of money.—Judge Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 7, note.
[111] Thus writes the Bishop of Australia in 1840.—“Neither can I comprehend or approve the policy which thus leaves multitudes without moral or religious guidance, under every inducement to commit acts of violence and rapine, which are not only the sources of infinite misery to the unhappy perpetrators, and to their wretched victims, but actually bring upon the government itself ten times the pecuniary charge which would be incurred by the erection of as many churches, and providing for the support of as many clergymen, as the necessities of every such district require.”
[112] “More labour would have been performed by one hundred free people from any part of England or Scotland, than had at any time been derived from three hundred of these (convicts), with all the attention that could be paid to them.”—Collins’ Account of the Colony of New South Wales, p. 415.
[113] Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 376.
[114] At a time of great distress, when 270 additional inhabitants had just made good their landing at Norfolk Island, whilst the ships and provisions sent with them from Port Jackson were almost entirely lost, these birds of providence, as they were justly called, furnished a supply for the necessities of the people. Mount Pitt, the highest ground in the island, was observed to be crowded with these birds during the night, for in the day-time they go out to sea in search of food. They burrow in the ground, and the hill was as full of holes as a rabbit-warren; in size they were not bigger than pigeons, but they looked much larger in their feathers. Their eggs were well tasted enough, and though the birds themselves had a fishy flavour, hunger made them acceptable. They were easily taken, for when small fires were kindled to attract their notice, they would drop down faster than the people could seize them. For two months together, it is said, that not less than from two to three thousand of these birds were taken every night, so that it was with reason that the starving population of Norfolk Island called them birds of providence.
[115] A peculiar language prevailed in this horrid place. It is said that a bad man was called a good man, and that one who was ready to perform his duty was generally called a bad man; and so, in other respects, language was adapted to the complete subversion of the human heart there existing. See Ullathorne’s Evidence before the Committee on Transportation, 1838, No. 271, p. 27.
[116] See Montgomery Martin’s New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, p. 257.
[117] Compare Lang’s History of New South Wales, vol. i. p. 71, and Collins’ Account of New South Wales, p. 197 and 201. See also Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 115.
[118] “The first religious edifice that was ever reared in the great Terra Australis, by voluntary and private exertion.” See Lang’s Narrative of the Settlement of the Scots’ Church in New South Wales, p. 8. The Doctor, in his Presbyterian zeal, had forgotten Mr. Johnson’s church.
[119] One of the vain attempts of the present age is that of entirely preventing the various fluctuations to which, from accidents, bad seasons, &c., the price of bread is subject. It did appear as though a certain average of moderate prices was established in England; but, recently, the system has been again altered, and time must show how it works. Certainly the changes in the value of corn in New South Wales have formerly been violent enough, supposing the following statement to be correct: “I have nine years been a landholder in this colony, and seven years have cultivated my own farm. In this time I have twice given wheat to my pigs, because I did not know what else to do with it; twice I have known wheat selling at fifteen shillings per bushel, and once at twenty shillings!”—Atkinson on the Encouragement of Distilling and Brewing in New South Wales, p. 3, ed. 1829.
[120] It is said that the natives foresaw the approach of this calamity, and advised the colonists of it, but their warning was not regarded.—See Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 310.
[121] For the particulars here related of the floods of the river Hawkesbury, see Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. pp. 98-101; and also Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. p. 67 and 448-9. The latter writer speaks of wheat and maize being sold at 5l. or 6l. per bushel, but that seems to be a mistake.
[122] Still later the following evidence was given upon a trial: “The governor, clergy, officers, civil and military, all ranks and descriptions of people bartered spirits when I left Sydney,—in May, 1810.” What a handle do such practices give to those that love to “despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.”—Jude 8.
[123] Here is an example of the need of a bishop in every colony of any size or importance. What right or power had a usurping military officer to suspend from clerical duties one of the two or three clergymen who were then in the settlement, and that without any crime alleged, any trial, or proof of his misdemeanour? Would not a bishop, to stand between the mighty major and the poor chaplain on this occasion, have been a guardian of “civil and religious liberty?”
[124] Respecting these, see the assertions in Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, page 6.
[125] See Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. pp. 168, 169.
[126] See Titus i. 3.
[127] Ezekiel iii. 18.
[128] How could public religious worship be attended to, when, in the year after Governor Macquarie’s arrival, 1810, a widely-scattered population of 10,452 souls, mostly convicts, were left in the charge of four clergymen? And in what respect were things improved at the time of that Governor’s departure in 1821, when, to a similarly situated population of 29,783 souls there were seven clergymen assigned: and the Romish church had one priest for New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land, while the Presbyterians at Portland Head had their lay-catechist?—See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, pp. 8, 9, 12, 16.
We may add, by way of illustrating the regard paid to religious worship, even in Governor Macquarie’s time, that Oxley’s first expedition into the interior was permitted to set out from Bathurst on a Sunday! See his Journal, p. 3. Sunday, indeed, seems to have been a favourite starting-day with Mr. Oxley. See p. 37.
[129] See Governor Macquarie’s Report to Earl Bathurst, in Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. Appendix, No. 8, p. 447.
[130] See Grey’s Travels in Western Australia, vol. ii. pp. 29, 30. For the particulars of Mr. Smith’s death, see [page 27].
[131] See Major Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 317.
[132] See Lang’s New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 119.
[133] The difference of temperature in twelve hours’ journey is stated to be upwards of twenty degrees.—Oxley’s Journal of his First Expedition, p. 4.
[134] This account of the navigation of Hunter’s River is taken from Martin’s New South Wales, p. 75. Dr. Lang, vol. ii. p. 64, gives a somewhat different account of it.
[135] It was introduced in 1831.
[136] Bishop of Australia’s Letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dated September 12th, 1839.
[137] See Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. pp. 52-55.
[138] There are several other parishes in the suburbs of Sydney. A third new church is likewise mentioned, among those in progress at Sydney, in the Bishop of Australia’s Charge, delivered in 1841. See Appendix A, p. 36.
[139] Compare p. 115 of Judge Burton’s work on Education and Religion in New South Wales, with Appendix No. 12 of the same work. It may be noticed, that the sum mentioned applies only to stipends and allowances of the Clergy, and does not include sums voted for building purposes.
[140] See the Morning Herald, July 5, 1842.
[141] This is flourishing, for the deposits are stated in recent accounts from Sydney to have increased, between June 30, 1840, and the same date in 1842, from 143,000l. to 178,000l., and the number of accounts opened was much greater than in former years.
[142] Extract from a private letter.
[143] See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 174.
[144] According to Mr. Montgomery Martin, (Van Diemen’s Land, p. 266,) Cornwall and Buckinghamshire continue to be its only counties, and it is subdivided into nine police districts; but Dr. Ross’s Almanac for 1836 contains, at p. 238, the governor’s proclamation for the division mentioned above; whilst a third division of the island into the counties of Argyle and Launceston is followed in the Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, for 1842. The above may serve for a specimen of the obscurity and confusion upon these trifling matters, respecting which accuracy seems almost unattainable.
[145] See Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. p. 51.
[146] See Mr. M. Martin’s Van Diemen’s Land, p. 274.
[147] The following specimen of the evil art of stirring up the discontent of those that are suffering under the dispensations of Providence, is taken from an old newspaper, published in Hobart Town in 1835. It may be stated, that in the very same paper we are informed that the drought had recently been so great that scarcely a cabbage, or any other vegetable but potato, was to be obtained in the town. Of course water was scarce, and precautions had been taken by the Governor to preserve some at a place whence the shipping were supplied; but this careful conduct of their ruler is thus held up to the abhorrence of the people. “Why,” it is asked, “do not the people drink the ditchwater and be poisoned quietly; it is quite enough that their betters should enjoy such a luxury as pure water.” And how often in England do we see this sort of trash printed by those dealers in knowledge, the newspaper-writers, who sometimes argue as though all the credit of prosperous occurrences belonged to the people of a country, and all the disgrace and responsibility of misfortunes and trials were to be put off upon its rulers! How often are we reminded of the Israelites murmuring against Moses on account of the miseries of that wilderness in which their own sins condemned them to wander!
[148] From a letter dated March 4, 1841, and written by the late lamented Archdeacon Hutchins, it would appear that two new churches, St. Giles’s and Trinity, are likely to be erected in Hobart Town. See Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, for 1841, p. 61.
[149] Bishop of Australia’s letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dated May 22, 1838.
[150] See Rev. iii. 17.
[151] See Bishop of Australia’s Letter, dated June 1840, in the Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for 1841, pp. 148-9.
[152] For the particulars here stated see the Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1, p. 51, and No. 2, pp. 111, 112.
[153] See Report of Committee on South Australia, p. 78. Evidence of T. F. Elliot, Esq. Answer 733. From the same source, the report of this Parliamentary Committee in 1841, much of the information respecting Southern Australia is derived.
[154] In these matters it is impossible to get at truth. Each man judges upon certain data, but though the conclusion of each may be correct, yet because the data were partial and imperfect, so likewise will the conclusions be. Mr. Mann, who was examined by the Committee upon South Australia, gives it as his opinion that about four-fifths of the land in that colony were bad. However, he had never been more than three weeks in it nor above fourteen miles from its chief town, so his judgment was formed principally upon hearsay. Others, probably, have gone into the contrary extreme of praising the soil too highly, and truth may, as usual, lie between the two extremes.
[155] It is noticed as a matter of surprise, that on August 6th, 1841, Mount Lofty, a hill 2400 feet in height, was covered with snow, and that the small river, called the Torrens, had been partly frozen.
[156] During the first six months of 1841, seventy vessels, comprising a burden of 11,139 tons, arrived at Port Adelaide. See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 2, p. 114.
[157] Here again reports differ. See Mr. T. Driver’s Evidence before the Committee on South Australia, p. 221, Answer, 2498, and following ones.
[158] See “South Australia in 1842,” p. 19, published by Hailes, London.
[159] For the facts here noticed, see the Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1. p. 53.
[160] See Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for 1842, p. 57.
[161] See Flinders’ Voyage, Introduction, vol. i. p. 60.
[162] There is a vine in the government garden (at Perth) which, planted as a cutting, sent out shoots 16½ feet long in the second year, and yielded more than 4 cwt. of grapes. Another, belonging to Mr. C. Brown of the same place, had a stem, which, in only five years’ growth, was 14½ feet in circumference. See “A Short Account of the Settlement in Swan River,” p. 15, published by Cross, Holborn, 1842.
[163] See “A Short Account of the Settlement of Swan River,” p. 33.
[164] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. 1, p. 28.
[165] See Rev. ii. 15.
[166] Thus, as recently as the year 1838, two ships were sent from Christian England to found a colony; having on board upwards of 500 souls, but unprovided with any minister of religion! How strange a method, if we really believe God’s word, of gaining a blessing from Heaven, either for ourselves or our colonies!
[167] See Isaiah xxxii. 2. The following proverbial saying in India may serve to show how natural such comparisons are in the mouths of the inhabitants of hot climates: “Ah, that benevolent man, he has long been my shelter from the wind; he is a river to the dry country.“ See Roberts’ Oriental Illustrations of Scripture, ad. loc. p. 429. How different an idea do the words “shelter from the wind” convey to the inhabitant of England’s bleak shores, and Asia’s parching deserts!
[168] See an interesting passage in Major Mitchell’s Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 28. See likewise Oxley’s First Journal, p. 75.
[169] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. iv. p. 234.
[170] A glance over the two ponderous volumes of the evidence before the Transportation Committee in 1837 and 1838 will satisfy every unprejudiced person that our penal colonies are not yet ripe for a representative government. It is curious enough to compare the fearful picture of these settlements drawn by one section of the so-called Liberal party, which wages war against transportation, with the more pleasing and flattering description of their social condition which is given by that other section of the same party which claims for the colonists “constitutional rights.”
[171] See Mr. Montgomery Martin“s New South Wales, p. 353.
[172] See Report of Transportation Committee in 1838, p. 32.
[173] Acts xxiii. 5.
[174] See the Preface to the Form of Ordaining and Consecrating Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, in the Book of Common Prayer.
[175] The subjection of New South Wales to the Bishopric of Calcutta was a mere absurdity; it might just as well have been under Canterbury at once.
[176] See Wentworth’s Australasia, vol. i. p. 366.
[177] Elsewhere stated to be 60,861. Perfect accuracy in these matters appears almost unattainable.
[178] See St. Paul’s charge to Timothy, the first Bishop of Ephesus, 2 Tim. iv. 2.
[179] See the Report of the Fund for providing Additional Colonial Bishoprics, dated June 25th, 1842. Should the particulars stated above induce any person to desire to lend a helping hand to so good, so glorious a work, any donations for that purpose, small or large, will be thankfully received at the office of the Committee, 79, Pall Mall, London; and a post-office order supplies a sure and easy means of conveyance for sums not exceeding five pounds.
[180] See Report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for 1842.
[181] Gladstone’s “The State in its Relations with the Church,” chap. viii. p. 315.
[182] Lang’s New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 317, &c. See also, at 265-6, a series of similar statements. A good specimen of Dr. Lang’s veracity occurs at p. 267, where the Church and School Corporation is said to have consisted chiefly of clergymen, whereas the majority were laymen. See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 21, and Appendix, No. 1.
[183] They are accused of spending 20,000l. a-year of public money, under pretence of providing for religious instruction and education, while nothing was really done; whereas, out of this sum, nearly 17,000l. were already appropriated for the existing ecclesiastical establishment; and, during the continuance of the Corporation, the schools increased from 16 to 40, and the number of children educated in them from 1,037 to 2,426. See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, pp. 24 and 32.
[184] See the book just quoted for a list of the members of the Church and School Corporation, p. 21. Whatever might be the education of these gentlemen, it is evident that better educated men were not very likely to be found in the colony than the great law officers of the crown, the members of the legislative council, and the nine senior chaplains.
[185] See Burton on Religion and Education in New South Wales, p. 31.
[186] See Australian and New Zealand Magazine, No. i. p. 45. The sums mentioned above include all the expense of grants to other bodies of Christians besides churchmen, but the greater portion of the money is expended upon the great majority of the population who are members of the Church of England.
[187] See Burton, p. 37.
[188] The following striking testimony in favour of the system of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts comes from a quarter by no means unduly biassed in its favour. “How have thousands and tens of thousands been raised in Scotland, for the last forty years, to fit out and to maintain beyond seas whomsoever the dissenting ministers of London chose to ordain as missionaries to the heathen? God forbid, that I should ever whisper a syllable against missions to the heathen! But I have seen too many missionaries, not to have seen more than I choose to mention, whom men possessed of the least discernment would never have presumed to send forth on such an errand! The colonies, however, were the first field to be occupied; and if that field had been properly occupied, it would have afforded much assistance to missions to the heathen.“—Lang’s New South Wales, vol. ii. p. 260.
If any reader of this passage should feel disposed in his heart to help in a good work, which greatly needs his assistance, let him take at once his humble mite, or his large offering, as the case may be, to the clergyman of his parish, or to the office, 79, Pall Mall, London, for the use of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.
[189] Gal. v. 19-21.
[190] See Mr. Montgomery Martin’s New South Wales for further particulars on this subject, pp. 168-177.
[191] “Catholic,” a most honoured term in ancient times, has in modern days been very unfortunate. Even now the Romanists misuse it for “Papistical,” the Dissenters occasionally use it to signify “Latitudinarian,” and the members of the Church of England are either afraid to use it at all, or else are perpetually harping upon it, as though it were a mere party-word.
[192] See a pamphlet entitled “Australia as she is and as she may be,” by T. Potter Macqueen, Esq., published by Cross, Holborn, pp. 12-14.
[193] It is right to state here that the cause of a supply of religious instruction having been so long delayed in Norfolk Island is said, by a Roman Catholic writer, to have been the impossibility of finding a clergyman to undertake the charge. See Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, pp. 39, 40. Supposing this account to be correct then, undoubtedly, the English Church must share the blame of neglecting Norfolk Island along with the government, and it is not the wish of the writer of these pages to deny the applicability of the prophet’s confession to ourselves: “O God, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against Thee.” (Dan. ix. 8.) Still, even according to Dr. Ullathorne, the penal settlement was established six years before its religious instruction was thought of by the government.
[194] Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 260.
[195] The reason given by the Roman Catholic, Dr. Ullathorne, is that the two priests divide the salary, and receive together no more than the one chaplain.—Ullathorne’s Reply to Burton, p. 76. The reader must bear in mind the different scale of expenses required by a person who must be single, and that of a person who may be, and generally is, a married man.
[196] See Committee on Transportation, 1838, pp. 137, 138.
[197] See Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, pp. 287-289. The actual sum there stated is either 725l. or 855l., according as certain expenses connected with the establishment are included or not.
[198] “I think the longer the sentence, the better will be the conduct of the individual,” because his only chance of obtaining any degree of liberty is from good conduct. See Evidence of J. MacArthur, Esq., before the Committee on Transportation in 1837. No. 3350-3, p. 218. Dr. Ullathorne expresses a contrary opinion.
[199] Evidence of J. MacArthur, Esq., before the Committee on Transportation, in 1837, No. 3371-2, p. 220. The richest man in the colony, an emancipist, was said, in 1837, to be worth 40,000l. or 45,000l. a year. For an account of the shameless roguery, and drunken folly, by means of which so vast an income was amassed, see Report of Transp. Com. 1837, p. 14 and 104.
[200] Barrington’s History of New South Wales, p. 421.
[201] For the mode in which the law admitting emancipists into the jurors’ box was passed, see Lang’s New South Wales, vol. i. p. 317-320. “Two absent members of the Legislative Council were known to be opposed to it. Of those present, the governor (Bourke) and five others were in favour of it, while six were against it. The governor gave a second and casting vote.”
[202] See Report of Transportation Committee, 1838, p. 31. “A large proportion of the persons who have appeared and served,” as jurors, “are publicans,” to whose houses prosecutors, parties on bail, or witnesses, resort, for the purpose of drinking, while in attendance upon the court. Once, when a jury was locked up all night, much foul and disgusting language was used; and to gain a release from this association, the disputed point was yielded; “no greater punishment can be inflicted upon a respectable person than to be shut up with such people for a few hours, or for the night.”
See Burton’s Letter, Appendix to Transportation Committee’s Report, 1837, p. 301-2. Dr. Lang’s book on New South Wales abounds in wretched puns, but one rather favourable specimen may be given, when, in allusion to the Englishman’s right of being tried by his peers, the Doctor styles the jurors above described “the Colonial Peerage!”
[203] 1 Cor. xii. 13.
[204] Grey’s Travels in Western Australia, vol. ii. pp. 192-3.
[205] The system of starting from a certain fixed sum per acre, named “the upset price,” and selling land at whatever it will fetch beyond this, is established in most of the Australian colonies. The fund thus produced is spent in encouraging emigration and providing labourers.
[206] Jehovah Jireh, that is, “the Lord will see or provide.” See translation in margin of Gen. xxii. 14.
[207] See Grey’s Travels in Western Australia, vol. ii. p. 188.
[208] Letter of the Bishop of Australia to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dated May 22, 1838.
[209] See Speech of the Bishop of Tasmania at Leeds, Nov. 28, 1842, p. 16.
[210] Letter of Rev. W. H. Walsh to S. P. G., dated October 6th, 1840.
[211] In Van Diemen’s Land, in 1838, it was stated that sixteen out of every twenty-three persons, nearly two-thirds, belonged to the Church of England. Bishop of Australia’s Letter to S. P. G., dated August 18, 1838.
[212] See the Memorial of the (Roman) Catholic Inhabitants of New South Wales to Lord Normanby. Burton on Education and Religion. Appendix, p. 117.
[213] Sir Richard Bourke’s Letter to the Right Hon. E. G. Stanley, September 30th, 1833. Sir Richard, in his haste or his ignorance, has overlooked the Greek Church.
[214] Bishop of Exeter’s Charge in 1837.
[215] Bishop of Australia’s Letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, August 18, 1838.
[216] See Bishop of Australia’s Charge in 1841, p. 10.
[217] On November 9th, 1838, Sir G. Gipps wrote to Lord Glenelg, stating that “he was happy to say there was no want in the colony of clergy of any denomination!” It was only in December 1837 that the Bishop of Australia had requested eighteen or nineteen presbyters of the Church of England for as many places as had actually complied with the government rules, and not more than half the number had, in the interim, been supplied.
[218] Gladstone’s State in its Relations with the Church, chap. vii. p. 272.
[219] See the latter part of [Chapter XI].
[220] For the particulars here stated, see the Report of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, for 1842, pp. 56-64.
[221] “It has been found impossible to state accurately the present population of Tasmania. No information could be obtained at the well-known colonial publisher’s (Cross’s) in Holborn.”
[222] These numbers are copied from a Sydney newspaper, but from some difference in the elements of calculation, possibly from not including the population of Norfolk Island, they do not quite tally with those given above.
[223] See the speech of Mr. C. Buller in the House of Commons, on Thursday, April 6th, 1843, upon the subject of colonization.
[224] See Evidence before Committee on Transportation in 1837, p. 41.
[225] See the Bishop of Exeter’s Charge in 1837.
[226] Compare Dr. Lang’s New South Wales, vol. ii. pp. 375, 288; and Burton on Education and Religion in New South Wales, p. 13.